Cheers,
Before I purchased my licence of Live 3 I got an Uc-33e to complement my Oxygen 8. My thought being that I'd use the Oxygen 8 to trig clips and the Uc-33e to control each track - volume, effects and so on... I even got small stickers numbered 1 through 72 to paste on each and every key on my Oxygen, thinking that respective number would be in the name of the clip for easy access.
Well... When I actually started fiddling with Live I realized that it was probably wiser to assign keys to trig whole scenes and that I'd soon run out of faders when assigning every track to the UC-33e.
Now my question - how are you all set up? What are your thoughts on the optimal workflow and configuration when using Live - both composing and performing?
Cheers,
Mikael
Your setup - thought on optimal workflow!
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Lo-Fi Massahkah
- Posts: 3604
- Joined: Fri Jun 04, 2004 2:57 pm
- Location: The south east suburbs of Malmö, Sweden.
I used to spend time trying to set up what I felt would be the perfect Live template. For me, I found that to be a waste of time as no template was ever perfect and each project would tend to have it's own specific assignment needs.
I would take the time to assign all the knobs on the uc-16 to sends one and two for tracks 1-8 and knobs 1-8 on the oxy to the level sliders on the eight tracks. But next thing I know I want to add a third send and am up to 13 tracks, only need to control levels on 5 of the 13 tracks and etc.
Now I just assign on the fly as I feel necessary. I keep like items grouped ofcourse, using the keys on the oxy 8 for launching clips. I'll have for example, some variations of drum clips assigned to F, G, A and B with fills on the keys above. The next group of keys may contain highhat variations on C, D, and E etc.
One regular assignment I use is to map something to the scene up, scene down, and scene launch controls on the master. I also map the data entry slider to control the scene scroll.
The knobs on the oxy 8 may be used to control automation of vst parameters. I try to keep these grouped vertically left to right. For example, knobs 1 and 5 to control parameters on an eq or filter in track 1.
I will keep the items I feel are most important on one unit, the oxy 8, then move on to the uc-16 and assign as I see fit trying to keep it organized.
That is the way I do it now, but that is always subject to change.
For performing, it's a matter of practicing the set before hand to become familiar and fluent with the set and it's assignments.
As far as an improvisational performance, I am not quite at that level yet, but if I were to do so I would still assign on the fly.
I would take the time to assign all the knobs on the uc-16 to sends one and two for tracks 1-8 and knobs 1-8 on the oxy to the level sliders on the eight tracks. But next thing I know I want to add a third send and am up to 13 tracks, only need to control levels on 5 of the 13 tracks and etc.
Now I just assign on the fly as I feel necessary. I keep like items grouped ofcourse, using the keys on the oxy 8 for launching clips. I'll have for example, some variations of drum clips assigned to F, G, A and B with fills on the keys above. The next group of keys may contain highhat variations on C, D, and E etc.
One regular assignment I use is to map something to the scene up, scene down, and scene launch controls on the master. I also map the data entry slider to control the scene scroll.
The knobs on the oxy 8 may be used to control automation of vst parameters. I try to keep these grouped vertically left to right. For example, knobs 1 and 5 to control parameters on an eq or filter in track 1.
I will keep the items I feel are most important on one unit, the oxy 8, then move on to the uc-16 and assign as I see fit trying to keep it organized.
That is the way I do it now, but that is always subject to change.
For performing, it's a matter of practicing the set before hand to become familiar and fluent with the set and it's assignments.
As far as an improvisational performance, I am not quite at that level yet, but if I were to do so I would still assign on the fly.
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JacekPlacek
2 midi controllers?
Hey I have a Radium 61 and the UC-33e, how did you guys set up so that LIVE is linked to both controllers? I thought there was only 1 midi input in LIVE? Can someone demostrate or write step by step how to do this? Thanks in advance.
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Lo-Fi Massahkah
- Posts: 3604
- Joined: Fri Jun 04, 2004 2:57 pm
- Location: The south east suburbs of Malmö, Sweden.
Thanks Smutek - you're probably right. Maybe I should give up the thought of one standard template. I'm still very curios to hear other thoughts and ideas on setups from all you other users.
JacekPlacek - there are 2 possible remote controllers in both Live 3 & 4. I don't know about how it was on previous versions...
JacekPlacek - there are 2 possible remote controllers in both Live 3 & 4. I don't know about how it was on previous versions...
Yeah, I think one of the important things is finding which way works best for you. For me a standard setup, atleast the one's I had tried, were not really doing the trick.
Hopefully some of the other guys will chime in. Mbazzy, montreal etc.
Try a search as well, I have asked this same question in the past.
Hopefully some of the other guys will chime in. Mbazzy, montreal etc.
Try a search as well, I have asked this same question in the past.
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Mlange2000
- Posts: 103
- Joined: Sun Jun 27, 2004 2:48 pm
- Location: Hamburg, City Germany
Re: 2 midi controllers?
You can link the Radium and the UC 33 with a standard MIDI cable.JacekPlacek wrote:Hey I have a Radium 61 and the UC-33e, how did you guys set up so that LIVE is linked to both controllers? I thought there was only 1 midi input in LIVE? Can someone demostrate or write step by step how to do this? Thanks in advance.
Just make shure, that they send on different MIDI channels. Please look in the manuals of the controllers.
Just connect the Radium´s MIDI OUT with the MIDI IN of the UC 33.
Works with all versions of LIVE and you can chain at least 16 control devices, as there are 16 MIDI channels availeble.
cheers
Michael
G5 Quad 2.5, OS 10.5.7. Apogee Ensemble,
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bigbadotis
- Posts: 836
- Joined: Fri May 30, 2003 10:31 pm
- Location: rochester, ny
- Contact:
if you're on a mac try my program controlAid. The basic idea is that you assign the same noteOn messages / ccs to every track, but on different MIDI channels. Then controlAid allows you to choose which channel you transmit your messages to using a knob or fader of your choice. This in effect allows you to use one knob to determine which track in Live all your other knobs/faders/triggers are affecting.
Much more efficient if you have a limited number of knobs/faders/clip triggers. You can also setup "global" controls which will always control the same parameters regardless of which channel is selected in controlAid.
This has allowed me to create a template that I never have to make any major deviations from, using an Oxygen 8, a FCB1010 and a Griffin Powermate for control.
Does lots of other stuff too and is free but mac only.
Much more efficient if you have a limited number of knobs/faders/clip triggers. You can also setup "global" controls which will always control the same parameters regardless of which channel is selected in controlAid.
This has allowed me to create a template that I never have to make any major deviations from, using an Oxygen 8, a FCB1010 and a Griffin Powermate for control.
Does lots of other stuff too and is free but mac only.
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bigbadotis
- Posts: 836
- Joined: Fri May 30, 2003 10:31 pm
- Location: rochester, ny
- Contact:
it's in the back of my head... I suppose it would help if i owned a copy of Windows...any chance of a windows port any time soon ?
I have a jMax patch that does the same thing as controlAid in regards to channel manipulation... only problem is I can't get jMax to run correctly on my computer anymore, which is why I had to make controlAid in the first place.
If anyone is interested in the jMax patch, it should work fine assuming jMax runs correctly on your system, just let me know and I'll dig it up and post it somewhere.
(jMax runs on Windows, Linux and OSX)
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Lo-Fi Massahkah
- Posts: 3604
- Joined: Fri Jun 04, 2004 2:57 pm
- Location: The south east suburbs of Malmö, Sweden.
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ryansupak
my control setup
Hi,
I use Live for live DJing/Remixing. No quantization, session mode only.
I use 4 "program" channels and 4 effects sends, and 1 "utility" channel.
Each program channel has two EQ3s on it. The first EQ3 has low-kill and high-kill turned off, so the shelf controls act as low-pass and high-pass filters. The second EQ3 has the Mid Gain turned all the way down, so the shelf controls, used together, act as very precise midrange filters.
The "utility" channel is for microphone talkover and general housekeeping. It has the "Utility" effect and an EQ4 on it.
The 4 sends are used as follows:
S1- Filter Delay
S2- Reverb
S3- Simple Delay (set to 1 bar)
S4- Distortion
The master output has a tube emulator followed by an EQ4 with a big mid-bass cut and a boost at about 10kHz. (The EQ Settings change based on the club acoustics).
The program material is songs cut up into verses, bridges, intro and outro loops, etc... Everything is warped into rhythm using "Tones", and normalized, and everything is set to Trigger - Loop with no Velocity Mod.
Each song is kept in its own folder, so that the whole list of files can be grabbed from the File Browser and quickly dragged in.
I use 2 Oxygen8s to control Live. At any one time, each Oxygen8 controls only one track.
For the "program" channels, the keys trigger audio clips. The Mod Wheel controls the Track Volume, and the Pitch Wheel quickly toggles on and off the Track Mute. Knobs 1-4 control sends 1-4, and knobs 5-8 control the high and low shelves for the teo EQ3s in each track.
For the "send" channels, knobs 1-4 control send 1-4 (feedback loops are possible), and knobs 5-8 control various effect parameters.
The real power comes in with the addition of MidiOX, though. I wrote a script to make the data-slider of each Oxygen8 cycle through active control of the 4 program tracks and the 4 send tracks.
When the data slider on each Oxygen8 is in its lowest position, Track1 is active for the controller; when the data slider on each Oxygen8 is in its highest position, Send4 is active for the controller, and every track in between.
When a track is active for control, it lights up since Ableton allows a note-on message to highlight a track.
Here's a link to the MidiOx script, as well as my template file:
www.vato9.org/midiox.zip
rs
I use Live for live DJing/Remixing. No quantization, session mode only.
I use 4 "program" channels and 4 effects sends, and 1 "utility" channel.
Each program channel has two EQ3s on it. The first EQ3 has low-kill and high-kill turned off, so the shelf controls act as low-pass and high-pass filters. The second EQ3 has the Mid Gain turned all the way down, so the shelf controls, used together, act as very precise midrange filters.
The "utility" channel is for microphone talkover and general housekeeping. It has the "Utility" effect and an EQ4 on it.
The 4 sends are used as follows:
S1- Filter Delay
S2- Reverb
S3- Simple Delay (set to 1 bar)
S4- Distortion
The master output has a tube emulator followed by an EQ4 with a big mid-bass cut and a boost at about 10kHz. (The EQ Settings change based on the club acoustics).
The program material is songs cut up into verses, bridges, intro and outro loops, etc... Everything is warped into rhythm using "Tones", and normalized, and everything is set to Trigger - Loop with no Velocity Mod.
Each song is kept in its own folder, so that the whole list of files can be grabbed from the File Browser and quickly dragged in.
I use 2 Oxygen8s to control Live. At any one time, each Oxygen8 controls only one track.
For the "program" channels, the keys trigger audio clips. The Mod Wheel controls the Track Volume, and the Pitch Wheel quickly toggles on and off the Track Mute. Knobs 1-4 control sends 1-4, and knobs 5-8 control the high and low shelves for the teo EQ3s in each track.
For the "send" channels, knobs 1-4 control send 1-4 (feedback loops are possible), and knobs 5-8 control various effect parameters.
The real power comes in with the addition of MidiOX, though. I wrote a script to make the data-slider of each Oxygen8 cycle through active control of the 4 program tracks and the 4 send tracks.
When the data slider on each Oxygen8 is in its lowest position, Track1 is active for the controller; when the data slider on each Oxygen8 is in its highest position, Send4 is active for the controller, and every track in between.
When a track is active for control, it lights up since Ableton allows a note-on message to highlight a track.
Here's a link to the MidiOx script, as well as my template file:
www.vato9.org/midiox.zip
rs
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Lo-Fi Massahkah
- Posts: 3604
- Joined: Fri Jun 04, 2004 2:57 pm
- Location: The south east suburbs of Malmö, Sweden.
controller set-up
I have a small number of UC-16 knobs whose function I keep fixed, track volumes, EQ bypass, EQ low cut. I do this for a couple of track channels that I use to mix pre-produced tracks. Because Live has glitchless and easy MIDI mapping I typically will just map other UC-16 knobs on-the-fly. This is because I have so many different effects chains for each of the tracks that it's difficult to make it consistent for the knobs. Rather than have lots of little unreadable-in-the-dark labels, i'd rather just MIDI learn the parameters I wish to tweak, when i'm ready to tweak them.
Because I like to have my entire live setup in a backpack (PB, mouse, some cables, UC-16) instead of a piano-type MIDI/USB keyboard I just assign triggers to the QWERTY keyboard. For instance the middle row is dedicated to 2 bar lead-in sounds. The top row is dedicated to MUTEing channels 1 to 10, using the MUTE on the utility plug-in. That way when you mute you can let echoes trail off. Miscellaneous sound effects on other keys. I suppose if need to play notes (Live 4) then you'll need a piano-style KB, but it doesn't seem absolutely necessary for triggering samples, especially if they are quantized.
just a couple more logs for the fire.
-dean
Because I like to have my entire live setup in a backpack (PB, mouse, some cables, UC-16) instead of a piano-type MIDI/USB keyboard I just assign triggers to the QWERTY keyboard. For instance the middle row is dedicated to 2 bar lead-in sounds. The top row is dedicated to MUTEing channels 1 to 10, using the MUTE on the utility plug-in. That way when you mute you can let echoes trail off. Miscellaneous sound effects on other keys. I suppose if need to play notes (Live 4) then you'll need a piano-style KB, but it doesn't seem absolutely necessary for triggering samples, especially if they are quantized.
just a couple more logs for the fire.
-dean